


Bird School is for Birds (and their Cyborg Love Interests)

by TheJadeSongbird



Category: RWBY
Genre: Anxiety and panic attacks, Multi, Obligatory Boarding School AU, Winter is a little shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 21:46:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6131161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJadeSongbird/pseuds/TheJadeSongbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His first thought upon seeing the boy is /hot damn he could be a model./ It’s not inaccurate to say that he was attractive—the teen was thin of frame, a face that caused fanclubs to spawn, and legs that went on for days.</p>
<p>The second thought was—/Why the fuck is he covered in birds?/</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bird School is for Birds (and their Cyborg Love Interests)

Panic attacks, to James Ironwood, feel like there’s a void that’s opened in his chest. They feel like all oxygen has been sucked from the room. Head spinning, metal and flesh-bone hands shaking as he pulled his legs up to wrap his arms around them, face buried in cotton pajama pants.  
  
_It’s over. It’s in the past. She’s safe. You’re safe._  
  
_-ake it stop hurting! It hurts—dammit--_  
  
_\--Oh god, Penny. PENNY!_  
  
Warmth wrapped around him, soft fabric bunched over his shoulders and against his cheek. Cool hands took his in theirs and Winter Schnee kneeled at his eye level, before leaning forwards to kiss his forehead lightly.  
  
“Five things you can see.”  
  
“Bed…” A shaky breath. “Nightstand, Door. Clock. You.”  
  
“Hearing. Four things?” James took a deep breath, head spinning a bit less as he pulled himself into focus.  He could hear the faintest sound of wind outside the windows and the tick-tock of the great grandfather clock down the hall. He could hear her breathing, and his. In the distance, a crow coughed into the night.  “Touch. Three.”  
  
That was easy enough. He tapped his flesh hand on the prosthetic, before running his fingers through the soft plush of the blanket she’d pulled over him.   
  
“Soft, yeah? I like them too.” She kissed his forehead again, bringing his count to three. “Smell?”  
  
“Peppermint and cooties.” His voice was raspy and full of his rare, dry deadpan snark. It made her laugh.  
  
“Vanilla. Not cooties.” She wrapped her arms around him. “Now. Deep breath.”  It took him a split second for the mental command to process through to an actual breath. “And exhale.”  
  
He buried his face in her shoulder, leaning into the embrace.  
  
“ ‘m sorry.” He felt her breath catch at that.  
  
“No, James, no. Don’t apologize for feeling. Never. Just remember that you’re safe. Penny is safe. You’re not alone.”  
  
“Can…”  
  
“Yes, of course.” She stood, pulling only slightly away to loop her left arm with his right. “Come on. She’s down the hall as always.”  James allowed himself to be tugged upright and out the door, barely able to breathe until he saw ginger-red hair and the softest of breathing. “See? I told you.” Winter murmured quietly.  
  
“…yeah.” His gaze lingered for a moment longer.  
  
“Do you want me to stay on your couch for the night?”  
  
“Is that…”  
  
“Allowed? I don’t care if it isn’t. Besides, your couch is comfortable.” His silence was enough, and she quietly led him back to his rooms, taking up perch on the slightly overstuffed couch by the window. James slowly sat down on the bed, shuffling among the blankets and sheets to face her. “Same nightmares?”  
  
“I….yeah.” He didn’t even bother to deny the fact. He could see Winter frown in the moonlight.  
  
“Nerves? I have friends better than me at this sort of thing in your grade—I could ask them to keep an eye out for you?” He shook his head almost frantically at that. He didn’t want anyone else to get involved—to see him like _this._ “I’ll just be a text away then—sneak out the balconies at three AM to give you hugs.”  
  
“You’d get detention.”  Winter snorted.  
  
“Professor Goodwitch and I have a love/hate relationship. I prank people, she can’t catch me. I get good grades, and she calms down. And besides—I’m on the freshman buddy list for anxiety resolution. She’d understand if one of them is just a bit overgrown and needs grounding.”  
  
“Does your father know that you’re the ‘Prank Queen of Beacon?” The smirk on her face said everything.  
  
“He knows I’m ‘unsuitable for the position of the head of the Schnee Corporation for Medical and Information Technologies’, anything else and he’d have an aneurysm. I pity whatever child he conceives for the position.”  
  
“Don’t you like the idea of having a sibling?”  
  
“Of course—yet another person to convince that Atlas is inherently corrupt and needs to be keelhauled and re-hauled. “  
  
“You know, you could just take over yourself.” More of that dry deadpan snark. Winter settled into the couch, burrowing into the  divide between cushion and backrest.  
  
“Eh. I’ll think about it. But later. Sleep first. “ Her head disappeared behind the armrest. “Night, Jamesey.”  
  
“Night _Winwin._ ”  
  
“I hate that nickname.” His only response was a low chuckle as he rolled over, curling under the covers.  
  
Sleep was a long time coming.  
  
  


End file.
